Women’s basketball cap offseason with a win

Senior Night was one to remember for the Lady Mountain Lions as they defeated Colorado School of Mines 70-49 without trailing at any point during the game.

Senior Madi Gaibler led UCCS with 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting and eight rebounds in 32 minutes. Chelsea Pearson and Caley Barnard, the two other seniors on the team along with Gaibler, combined for 12 points and eight rebounds.

“We had a lot of intensity and just determination to do a good job on defense,” said UCCS head coach Lynn Plett. “We knew they like to shoot a lot of threes; we did a lot of switching and I think that really helped us out.

“We did a really good job of switching and I think that was a big part of our defense and just overall it was a really good effort from our players all the way through,” said Plett

Colorado School of Mines shot just 26 percent from the field in the first half, as UCCS played stout defense and maintained a large advantage in the rebound department.

The second half was more of the same story with UCCS bothering CSM’s perimeter shooters and forcing them to take bad shots. Mines shot 16 percent from the field in the fourth quarter.

“What I felt like we really did a better job of down the stretch was defensive rebounding,” said Plett. “We didn’t give them any opportunities; a couple times at the end they got a few of them but overall, I think we limited them to one shot for the majority of the third and the beginning of the fourth quarter.” UCCS did not qualify for the RMAC tournament, but they were able to send their seniors off with a game where they performed well.

“It’s been an interesting career for all three of them just because we’ve been up and down and as far as being a consistent team,” said Plett.

“Their goal has always been to try to get into the playoffs and the regionals and we just haven’t been able to meet that goal but yet those three I think in particular stick with it and worked hard on a consistent basis every day in practice.

Plett said all three seniors are competitors and have matured as players since they first became part of the team.

Freshman Ellie Moore said that she will miss the support of the departing seniors.

“They were super awesome. Even off the court they would say hi to us [and] hang out with us. They always made us feel included, so I’ll miss their hustle [and] their personalities.”

“It was great to have a game like this,” said Plett. “I mean, you dream of a senior night and the way the outcome and the game went, you probably can’t ask for a better scenario than what we had tonight.”